The
departments of France ( , ) and many of its
former colonies are
administrative divisions, roughly
analogous to the
districts of
England. The 100 French departments are grouped into 22
metropolitan and four
overseas
region, all of which have
identical legal status as integral parts of France. The departments
are subdivided into 342
arrondissements, which in turn,
are divided into
cantons. Each
canton consists of a small number of
communes. In the overseas territories,
some of the communes play a role at departmental level.
History
1812: Departments at the maximum
extent of the First Empire
1843: France had 86 departments;
Alsace and Lorraine were in France, but not Nice and Savoy
Before the
French Revolution,
France accumulated territory gradually through the annexation of a
mosaic of more or less independent entities. By the close of the
Ancien Régime it was organised
into
provinces. During the
period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to
weaken old loyalties. Departments were created on 4 March 1790 by
the
National Constituent
Assembly to replace the provinces with what the Assembly deemed
a more rational structure. They were designed to deliberately break
up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural
differences and build a more homogeneous nation. The old
nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments.
Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical
features.
Even Paris was in the department of Seine
.
The number of departments, initially 83, was increased to
130 by 1810 with
the territorial gains of the Republic and of the
First French Empire (see
Provinces of the Netherlands
for the annexed Dutch departments). Following
Napoleon's defeats in 1814-1815, the
Congress of Vienna returned
France to its pre-war size; the number of departments was reduced
to 86, as three of the original departments had been split. In
1860, France acquired the
County of
Nice and
Savoy, which led to the creation
of three new departments.
Two were added from the new Savoyard
territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes
was created from Nice and a portion of the
Var
department. The 89 departments were
given numbers based on their alphabetical order.
The
departments of Moselle
,
Bas-Rhin, and most of Haut-Rhin
were ceded to the German Empire
in 1871, following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. A small part of
Haut-Rhin however remained French, and became known as the
Territoire de
Belfort
. When France regained the ceded
departments after
World War I, the
Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin.
In 1922, it became France's 90th department.
The
reorganisation of Greater Paris (1968)
and the division of Corsica
(1975) added
six more departments, raising the total to ninety six.
Finally
there are the four overseas
departments of French
Guiana
, Guadeloupe
, Martinique
, and Réunion
.
General characteristics
Population density in the departments
at the census of 1968 (people/km²)
The departmental seat of government is called the
prefecture (
préfecture) or
chef-lieu de department and is generally a city of some
importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department.
This was determined according to the time taken to travel on
horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for
the prefecture to be accessible by horseback from any town in the
department within 24 hours.
The prefecture is not necessarily the largest
city in the department; for instance, in Saône-et-Loire
department the capital is Mâcon
, but the
largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône
. Departments are divided into one or more
arrondissements. The
capital of an arrondissement is called a
subprefecture
(
sous-préfecture) or
chef-lieu
d'arrondissement.
Each department is administered by a
general council (
conseil
général), an assembly elected for six years by
universal suffrage, with the president of
the council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the
excutive of a department was the
prefect (
préfet) who represents
the
Government of France in
each department and is appointed the
President of France. The prefect is
assisted by one or more sub-prefects (
sous-préfet) based
in the subprefectures of the department.
The departments are further divided into
communes, governed by
municipal councils. As of 1999, there were
36,779 communes in France.
In
continental France (metropolitan
France, excluding Corsica), the
median land area of a department is , which
is two-and-a-half times the median land area of a ceremonial county of England
and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of
a county of the United
States. At the 2001 census, the median population of a
department in continental France was 511,012 inhabitants, which is
21 times the median population of a U.S. county, but less than
two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of
England. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and
8,000 km², and a population between 250,000 and 1 million.
The
largest in area is Gironde
(10,000 km²), while the smallest is the city of Paris
(105 km²). The most populous is Nord
(2,550,000) and the least populous is Lozère (74,000).
The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in
postal codes, in
INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and
on
vehicle
number-plates. Initially, the numbers corresponded to the
alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several
changed their names, so the correspondence became less exact.
There is
no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead, for Corsica.
Corsican postal codes or addresses in both departments do still
start with 20, though.
The two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco
.
Together with the
ISO 3166-1
alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form the
ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the
metropolitan departments. The overseas departments get two letters
for the ISO 3166-2 code, e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe (see table
below).
Party-political preferences
File:Départements-conseils.png|The political preferences of the
various departments in the cantonal elections of 2004.File:Conseils
généraux 2008.svg|The political preferences of the various
departments in the election of 2008.Key to the parties:
The Future
The removal of one or more levels of local government has been
discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the
departmental level.
Frédéric
Lefebvre, spokesman for the
UMP, said in December 2008,
that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to
be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by
Édouard Balladur and
Gérard Longuet, members of the Committee
for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur
Committee.
In January 2008, the "Commission for freeing French development",
known as the
Attali Commission,
recommended that the departmental level of government should be
eliminated within ten years.
Nevertheless, the "Committee for the reform of local authorities",
known as the
Balladur
Committee has not retained this proposition and does not
advocate the disappearance of the 100 departments, but simply
"favours the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests
also for the regions, with the aim of bring the number of the
latter down to fifteen. This committee advocates on the contrary,
the suppression of the cantons.
The debate on the reform of local authorities finds an echo in that
of retaining the departmental numbers in
French vehicle
registration numbers. Since April 2009, a departmental number
is still included but it is now one chosen by the vehicle owner and
not necessarily the place of residence. Also, the number of the
department is automatically accompanied on the number plate, by the
logo of the region in which the department lies.
Maps and tables
Former departments on the current territory of France
| Department |
Prefecture |
Dates in existence |
Notes |
Rhône-et-Loire |
Lyon |
1790–1793 |
Split into  Rhône and  Loire on 12
August 1793. |
Corse |
Bastia |
1790–1793 |
Split into Golo and Liamone. |
| Golo |
Bastia |
1793–1811 |
Reunited with Liamone into  Corse. |
| Liamone |
Ajaccio |
1793–1811 |
Reunited with Golo into Corse. |
Mont-Blanc |
Chambéry |
1792–1815 |
Formed from part of the  Duchy of
Savoy, a territory of the  Kingdom
of Piedmont-Sardinia and was restored to Piedmont-Sardinia
after Napoleon's defeat.
The
department corresponds approximately with the present French
departments  Savoie and Haute-Savoie . |
| Léman |
Geneva |
1798–1814 |
Formed when the  Republic of Geneva was annexed into the First French Empire. Léman became the
Swiss canton
the Republic and Canton of
Geneva . The department corresponds with the present
Swiss canton and parts of the present French departments  Ain and
Haute-Savoie. |
Meurthe |
Nancy |
1790–1871 |
Meurthe ceased to exist following the
annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the  German Empire in 1871 and was not recreated after the province
was restored to France by the Treaty of Versailles. |
| Seine |
Paris |
1790–1967 |
On 1
January 1968, Seine was divided into four new departments:
 Paris,  Hauts-de-Seine ,  Seine-Saint-Denis and  Val-de-Marne , gaining territory from Seine-et-Oise in the process. |
| Seine-et-Oise |
Versailles |
1790–1967 |
On 1
January 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into three new departments:
 Yvelines ,  Val-d'Oise and  Essonne , with some territory lost to Seine in the process. |
| Corse |
Ajaccio |
1811–1975 |
On
15 September 1975, Corse was divided in two, to form Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse . |
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon |
Saint-Pierre |
1976–1985 |
 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was an
overseas department from 1976
until it was converted to an overseas collectivity on 11 June
1985. |
French Algeria
|
|
.png/180px-France_and_French_territories_(1945).png) Unlike the rest of French-controlled
Africa, Algeria was officially incorporated into France from 1848
until its independence in 1962
|
Former colonies of France
Napoleonic Empire
There are a number of former departments in territories conquered
by France during the
French
Revolution and
Napoleonic
Empire that are now not part of France:
Notes for Table 7:
- Where a Napoleonic department was composed of parts from more
than one country, the nation-state containing the prefecture is
listed. Please expand this table to list all countries containing
significant parts of the department.
- Territories that were a part of
Austrian Netherlands were also a part
of .svg/20px-Banner_of_the_Holy_Roman_Emperor_(after_1400).svg)
Holy
Roman Empire.
- The
Bishopric of Basel was a German Prince-Bishopric, not to be confused with the
adjacent Swiss 
Canton of Basel
.
- The territories of the were lost to France, becoming the
Septinsular Republic, a nominal
protectorate of the , from 1800–07.
After
reverting to France as the Illyrian
Provinces, these territories then became a British
protectorate, as the 
United States of the Ionian
Islands
- Maastricht
was a condominium of the 
Dutch
Republic and the 
Bishopric of Liège
.
- On 6 June 1805, as a result of the annexation of the
Ligurian
Republic (the puppet successor state to the Republic
of Genoa), Tanaro was
abolished and its territory divided between the departments of
Marengo, Montenotte and Stura.
- Before becoming the department of Apennins, the Republic
of Genoa was converted to a puppet
successor state, the Ligurian
Republic.
- Before becoming the department of Arno, the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted
to a puppet successor state, the 
Kingdom
of Etruria.
- Before becoming the department of Taro, the
Duchy
of Parma and Piacenza was annexed to the 
Cisalpine Republic
until 1802, the .svg/20px-Flag_of_the_Italian_Republic_(1802).svg)
Italian
Republic
, from 1802 until 1805 and the 
Kingdom of Italy, from 1805
until 1808.
- Rome was known as the until
1810.
- Before becoming the departments of Bouches-du-Rhin, Bouches-de-l'Escaut, Bouches-de-la-Meuse, Bouches-de-l'Yssel, Ems-Occidental, Frise, Yssel-Supérieur and Zuyderzée, these territories of the Dutch
Republic were converted to a puppet
successor state, the Batavian Republic (1795–1806), then those
territories that had not already been annexed (all except the first
two departments here), along with the Prussian
County of East
Frisia, were converted to another puppet state, the 
Kingdom
of Holland.
- Before becoming the department of Simplon, the
République des Sept Dizains
was converted to a revolutionary République du
Valais (16 March 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (1 May 1798)
into the puppet 
Helvetic
Republic until 1802 when it became the independent Rhodanic
Republic.
- In
the months before Lippe
was formed, the arrondissements of Rees
and
Münster
were part of Yssel-Supérieur, the
arrondissement of Steinfurt
was part of Bouches-de-l'Yssel and the
arrondissement of Neuenhaus
was part of Ems-Occidental.
References
See also
(Parti Socialiste).svg/180px-Coat_of_arms_Algeria_(1830-1962).svg)
Rodrigues
,
, Karikal
, Yanaon
, Mahe and Chandernagore
Maastricht
Papal States
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
Regions and departments of
metropolitan France; the numbers are those of the first
column
The departments in the immediate
vicinity of Paris; the numbers are those of the first column
.svg/20px-Blason_ville_fr_Avanne-Aveney_(Doubs).svg)
.svg/20px-Bremen_Wappen(Mittel).svg)
